A 48-year-old Eudora woman sought in connection with the embezzlement of $57,000 from a Lawrence heating and air company turned herself in to the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Wednesday.
A warrant for Rhonda Lynn Van Anne's arrest had been issued following a Lawrence Police Department investigation of the embezzlement, which was carried out via computer over four years, according to a police report.
Last June, Advantage Heating and Air, 406 N. Seventh St. reported to police that the money had been taken between Jan. 23, 2008, and March 23, 2012.
Van Anne was booked into the Douglas County Jail Wednesday evening on one count of theft of property valued at more than $25,000. According to state sentencing guidelines, that felony can bring up to 34 months in prison, depending on criminal history. She was released on a $1,500 bond.
Attempts to reach the owner of Advantage Heating and Air Thursday were not successful.
Comments
QuiviraTrail 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I wonder if she has a gambling habit. I recall a bookkeeper at the Topeka Capital-Journal embezzled more than $200,000 so she could gamble at the casinos north of the Capital City.
08Champs 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Usually the amount they list is only what they can prove easily. Unfortunately, the real amount is likely much higher.
BMM5626 4 months, 3 weeks ago
No gambling problems... Only selfless spending problems. She loved buying things for herself and trying to live a fantasy life with money that did not belong to her. The money stolen was THOUSANDS of dollars, but like what was said above it is only what they could prove.. I hope that she get's maximum time for her selfish acts. She has stolen from those who have worked VERY hard and are VERY deserving of their money!!!!
brassnip 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Same story with exwife. The day she filed for divorce she took the checks that came with the credit card bills and paid off the diversion and restitution. Guess who got stuck with THAT bill plus alimony? Justice according to Douglas County. Apparently didn't realize a felon might lie.
Dorothyfromkansas 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Whether its a gambling problem, selfishness or any other reason, IT'S WRONG and it's a criminal act. I'm hearing from reliable sources that she stole thousands more than listed in the story. I want to know how her family did not question her sudden large spending sprees. This woman deserves to serve time for her actions. Someone must have completely trusted her to give her full and easy access to accounts. Shame on you, Rhonda! SHAME ON YOU!! How can you even look in the mirror?
cheeseburger 4 months, 3 weeks ago
And yet, unless she was a previous murderer, she will probably get the standard probation in this county.
greenworld 4 months, 3 weeks ago
This place is a joke in general and I would never refer anybody to them. They need to be turned in for un-ethical business practice and now I know why. They came out and told me my furnace and A/C was in bad shape and it needed to be replaced. I got a second opinion to be safe and it was detemined that all i needed was my coil cleaned and i was charged a service call from somebody else that knows what the heck their talking about. Also i had water build-up and they charged me 600.00 for a brand new little giant condensation pump that i later went online and amazon had the exact same one for 25.00. Sneaky sneaky sneakly people, you got to watch these type of people and i wouldnt refer anybody to them as they are shady as all get out. I called them back to protest the pump and was told by Rhonda the owner would have to get back with me and never heard a single thing. After putting in several calls to Rhonda I kept getting blown off and told the same thing that he would call me back and eventually gave up. Word to the wise dont do business with them!!!!!!!
KRichards 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Heard the exact same thing. A friend was told to buy a new furnace when all he needed was a control board for $100 bucks and the wherewithal to install it.
Centurion 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I agree with you Green, I would not refer them to anyone. My elderly father ha them come out to work on his furnace. They replaced the thermostat and charged him $160. It never did fix the problem. And he couldn't get them to come back or refund his money. I was thinking this happend in 2006.
BMM5626 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Probably because Rhonda was pocketing the profit!!! HAHA It probably was 25 bucks from Advantage, but you talked to Rhonda. The one who was embezzling the money. What makes you think she would be honest with you?
Dorothyfromkansas 4 months, 3 weeks ago
To Greenworld: I notice you referred to Rhonda a couple of times. DING! a light bulb suddenly appears. Possible she never gave the messages to the owner?
greenworld 4 months, 3 weeks ago
isnt karma a b!tch though...ha
justfornow 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Anyone that's steals from another should be hung by the neck till dead. Trash!!
BMM5626 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Very true... Sadly it had to involve you. Advantage is an excellent company and I have had great experience's with them! I would refer them to anyone, ANY DAY!
SofaKing 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I've never seen experience with an apostrophe s
jhawkinsf 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Stick around this forum long enough and you'll see all manner of grammatical inventiveness.
Did_I_say_that 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Perhaps BMM5626 placed the extra punctuation mark in "experiences" to balance the lack of a punctuation mark at the end of SofaKing's sentence. An ironic premonition, if you will.
justfornow 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Go to bed sofaqueen, it's late.
Cant_have_it_both_ways 4 months, 3 weeks ago
There has to be more to this story. There is no way the owner could not have known this money was missing. $57+ K is a lot of money, even to an HVAC place.
otto 4 months, 3 weeks ago
She could have started out with small amounts and then moved up to stealing and covering it up with credit - illegally obtained credit cards and it takes awhile to all pile up. Just a guess, I do agree with you though that is a lot of money.
Cant_have_it_both_ways 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I was thinking more like the boink boink shut up or I'll tell your wife syndrom.
sjgreen 4 months, 3 weeks ago
What a tragic story. I hope she realizes the full extent of the heartache she must have caused for her family, co-workers, and employer. I've used Advantage a number of times and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
none2 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I have to agree with you. I used them several times, and had no problems. They were the ones that determined that I needed a new furnace because of a crack. They also determined that the original builders incorrectly installed the furnace. The builders had put in an intake vent of the right size, but had blocked a third of it with the sides of the unit.
Everything they said was verified by another heating and cooling company from which I got a second opinion. While I didn't go with Advantage to get the new furnace (theirs was the second best bid), they were professional. I have used them several times for seasonal checks, and they did just fine.
Had they not found the original crack in the unit, I might eventually have had dangerous levels of CO fumes in the house. For that alone I will always be grateful.
GSWtotheheart 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I dealt with Advantage and Rhonda several times a few years ago...built and moved into my house in the summer- the a/c didn't seem to be keeping the house cool. during that first winter, the house was always freezing cold. since advantage had put the a/c and furnace in the house, I kept calling them to come check the units and see what was wrong. on one visit, the tech, who wouldn't talk to me, was on the phone with someone and kept saying, "I love you" and then hanging up until his phone rang again. showed me that obviously I didn't have his full attention. so he left and my house was still freezing. finally one day I heard the a/c compressor kick on when the furnace was trying to run. called advantage and told them that and this time when they came out, they informed me that the installation had been done improperly with wires crossed causing the furnace to run when I turned on the a/c and the a/c to run when the furnace kicked on. would have been nice to have a refund of the $200 gas bills I was having that winter trying to keep the house warm, or the $200 electric bills I was having that summer trying to keep the house cool. (my house is less than 1000 sq feet) I will not ever use them again and don't refer anyone to them after my experience.
midwestmom 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Randy is a former neighbor and a good, honest guy.
Unfortunately, a successful embezzler is usually a 'key' employee who is always at work and always on top of their job - which allows them to steal money, equipment, etc. and also the things they do to cover up their theft. But the same things that let them steal large sums of money also make it difficult for their employers to believe that this trusted, valuable employee is stealing them bankrupt - especially in a small business where the 'office manager' takes care of payables, receivables, payroll, bank account reconciliations, taxes and often works directly with the accountants and also has the password to make 'corrections' on the computerized ledger.
Its not always possible for a small company to afford a second person who either co-manages or even co-works who might notice billing/deposit errors or excess ledger corrections. I'm guessing the accountants office noticed a trend of discrepancies and brought it first to Rhonda's attention and then to Randy's....
I hope Randy knows that there are lots of people who support him and will continue to trust his company to do good work at reasonable prices.
butrflkisz 4 months, 3 weeks ago
WOW whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty. All the people on Team Randy apparently know a different Randy then his employees know. He is a terrible boss, awful business person and thinks he is better than everyone else. He successfully manages to run his very own company into the ground and it is nobody's fault but his own. He thinks he knows everything about business and that is the furthest thing from the truth. Employees aren't allowed to have opinions or stick up for themselves otherwise you will be fired and it is the most hostile work environment. People who live in the glass houses shouldn't throw stones so why don't we all wait and see what the courts have to say before you jump on Randy's bandwagon or better yet go work for him and you will see it is the closest thing to hell you can get.
Dorothyfromkansas 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I hope you are an ex employee, because if not, you SHOULD be.
disgruntil 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Wow!
kab123 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Maybe that's why they stuck us with a warranty for their work that was paid for as long as we had the ac/heating unit and when called to schedule a regular maintenence check before winter...she told me I had to pay each year and they never came once at all, EVER. No recommendations here!
Dorothyfromkansas 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Disgruntled ex-employees are just that: disgruntled! I would never put much truth into comments made by such people. Obviously this ex-employee is quite biased with his opinions. Makes me wonder if he/she knew and perhaps helped with the embezzlement. I am NOT a disgruntled or biased employee and would like to comment on FACTS I know to be true. The owner of Advantage, (Randy) has played a huge positive part in the community. I bet most of you didnt know that he has given free services to people who cannot afford to have heat or air in their homes. He will personally make weekend and evening house calls to make sure no one suffers through the cold without heat. He donates hours and hours to worthwhile causes. He contributes his time and expertise to those in need. He supports numerous charities and donates both money and time. He is a wonderful family man, an honorable human being, a man of great character, and he is one of the good guys. I hope those people who feel the need to post ugly and hateful things, understand that you cant keep a good man down. Randy is a good man. Believe me, he will rise above all of you. Karma is an amazing thing. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." If Randy has a weakness, its that he trusts everyone. He trusts his employees and he completely trusted his Office Manager, Rhonda. Never in a million years did he think she would steal from him. I'm guessing he won't make that mistake again.
none2 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm glad you made your post. I found it hard to believe that any owner of a business that has been around for several years would be as bad as several posters all made him out to be. If that were the case, I couldn't imagine him being in business that long.
I may or may not have ever met him. However, I did talk to Rhonda several times on the phone as well as stop by a few times to pay bills for the seasonal checking they did for me. While I didn't know her on a very personal basis, I will be SHOCKED if she did what she is accused of doing. She seemed like a nice person...
To be honest, most of my interactions with Advantage were more than four years ago, so if most of this happened in the last four years I could be in the dark.
Dorothyfromkansas 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Randy has been overwhelmed with hundreds of emails offering support. That says a lot about him and his reputation.
sirjustice2000 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Randy is an honest man and has ran a good business but unfortunately people would rather steal from him!! ADVANTAGE HEATING AND COOLING 4 LIFE MAN!!!!!! REPRESENT, IF YOU CAN'T TAKE THE HEAT GET THE HECK OUT THE KITCHEN
cowboy 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Seems Advantage is getting 57,000 worth of bad PR from this deal. Ive used them a few times , thought they were working on commission the way they priced repair work. wouldn't use them ever again.
Melagio01 4 months, 3 weeks ago
I hope I'm never "accused" of something and my name is drug through the dirt before a fair trial is held...I would think that not one person besides the accuser and the accused really know the facts...but that's just my two cents
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